I love attending accounting conferences. This comes as a surprise to no one who knows me (or even knows of me) – I’ve been featured in countless promo reels, given interviews on the topic, written “tips & tricks” articles, and talked up the amazing Accounting Cornerstone Foundation (more on them later) endlessly. Why? Accountants are boring, right? Why would anyone want to hang out with a bunch of them? What is there to learn that you can’t get from an industry publication? And anyway, conferences are expensive and couldn’t possibly be worth all the fuss, right. What’s the point?

I recently joined Gary DeHart of Insightful Accountant to discuss exactly that question, and to walk through my picks for the Top 10 Accounting Conferences of 2025.

Why I Attend Accounting Conferences

Back in 2016 I wrote a blog post about my takeaways from the first Scaling New Heights conference I attended. Mind you, I’d been to plenty of other conferences before then, but this particular blog post resonates in particular because it still holds entirely true, almost ten years later! In re-reading it, I am delighted to find my core reasons for attending conferences remain the same:

1. Focusing my practice on our strengths & priorities – Exactly what these are change from year-to-year and are deeply personal; it’s something I discuss with my team and we often decide together. Some examples from the past for us: niching; staffing; training; defining our Ideal Client Profile; pivoting to education, leadership, public speaking; automation and delegation; the client experience; the list goes on. I usually pick one or two overarching goals for each conference – but I also keep my eyes open to concepts I haven’t yet considered.
   
2. Apps & Solutions – Something that no webinar, demo or virtual conference can fully emulate is the unmatched experience of being able to research and compare various products, apps, and other tools, all under one roof… with countless colleagues surrounding you who have actually implemented one or the other solution. This is how my Senior Accountant and I finally landed on Keeper a few years back – which has been a game-changer for our CPA and bookkeeping firm – and it’s what led me to Gusto payroll and Relay banking back in the day. It’s also how I finally decided to focus on QuickBooks rather than diversify into other platforms. These may not be the solutions for you (as I said, it’s a deeply personalized experience based on your needs and goals), but for us they’ve made a lasting difference, and researching potential partnerships with these companies would not otherwise have been possible with the same degree of interaction and comparison.
   
3. Real-life accounting firm scenarios – There’s a saying that the real conference happens not in the sessions, but in the hallways. Now, I’m not throwing shade at the classes, workshops, events or vendor hall, because I’m obsessed with all of those as well! But remember what an incredible resource your colleagues are… as a collective, they probably have all the combined experience you need to get all your questions about firm-running or providing great service answered. There’s always going to be someone out there who’s tried this-or-that and has an opinion on the topic, and it’s about time you found them. Keep your ears tuned to the other questions folks ask, talk to your class or lunch neighbors about your goals and aspirations, and pay attention to others attending demos and ask what if any solution they’re currently using, and why they’re exploring other options. Your community is the biggest resource you could possibly imagine – we’re all trying to figure it out and no one can do it alone better than they can with input from others.
   
4. Tips & tricks – By this, I mean the nuggets rather than the giant implementations. Some of my biggest takeaways have sometimes been the smallest little chunks of learning… setting defaults for reporting, or uploading receipts via a mobile app, or tweaking settings for reminders; the list goes on. I keep a page at the back of my notebook for little gems like these, and also write the names of specific clients that would benefit from implementation so that I don’t forget when I get back to the real world.
   
5. Networking & comparing notes w/ colleagues – Building relationships with colleagues is fun. It makes life better. It helps you feel less alone; it gives you someone to bounce ideas off of; it can be invaluable when you end up with a client who opens an account with a bank that won’t sync with QuickBooks and you can’t remember how to import the data. (If that sounds weirdly specific it’s because it actually happened to me last year. Pro tip: don’t use Square’s Checking account.) And the best way I can think of to find these people is to meet them at conferences, and learn about which communities they’re a part of that you can join. There are so many great ones out there – Bookkeeping Buds, Realize, Roundtable, and of course my own ‘Ask a CPA’ membership for bookkeepers who have questions they (for whatever reason) can’t ask their clients’ tax pros. (Tantalizing freebie download for readers: an abbreviated version of our “Bookkeepers Guide to Annual Reviews”.)
   
6. Meeting vendors & speakers – I know I mentioned Apps & Solutions earlier, but this time I’m talking about developing personal relationships with vendors and speakers, whether you need a rep to help you solve a specific problem, or might need a go-to in the future, or to set up a demo for your clients or community, or for a future potential collaboration. I did this for years just as a matter of course, because I like people and I like knowing what’s going on in the industry, and time and time again it’s come back to me in a positive way, whether it’s because I needed a favor, or had one to offer, or was looking for a podcast sponsor or guest. I once even had the amazing experience of a Point of Sale guru giving a client of mine a call when her old QuickBooks Desktop POS went on the fritz – the amazing Will English came to the rescue and saved her literally thousands of dollars and months of headache. All because I was impressed with his talk at a conference and got to know him better in the vendor hall.
   
7. Exploring a new city or visiting an old favorite – Yes, I’m talking about travel. I almost always try to arrive a day early and leave a day or two after the conference so I can catch some of the sights with my husband, who often travels with me and works from the hotel room. You can also do this on your own or make plans with other attendees to meet up (ahead of time or on a lark). It’s an incredible opportunity to check out the sights and build some work-life balance into your trip. And it’s travel with built-in protection from client demands and team emails, since they know you’re busy at a conference, learning things that will help make their lives better when you get back.

How to Choose Which Conferences To Attend

I posted on LinkedIn to find out how my colleagues set their goals, budget, and criteria for deciding which conferences they’d attend and got a lot of great feedback. I asked:
 – What are your favorites? And most importantly: WHY?
 – What do you look for in an accounting conference?
 – How do you budget for them?
 – And how do you choose from so many amazing ones?

And I’ve summarized that feedback here (and in the Insightful Accountant video), along with my own takes.

Different Types of Conferences

First, a few general comments about “Different types of conferences”. I aim to attend at least A) one smaller-scale retreat, B) one accounting technology conference, and C) one tax update conference per year, and everything else falls into place based on 1-people I want to meet, 2-my travel schedule, 3-my goals for the year, and 4-in my case, whether or not I’ve been invited or accepted to speak.

To get those juices flowing, here’s a list of different types of conferences that I personally consider:

• Accounting Technology
• Bookkeeping
• Tax Compliance
• Advisory
• Topic-Specific (e.g., Mental Health/ Sustainability-Bridging The Gap; Pricing-REFRAME; Education-‘Appy Camp)
• Team-Building
• Sector (Co-ops, Nonprofits, Fraud, Women-Focused, Niche: Legal, Restaurants, Medical, Cannabis, etc.)
• Format: Live/Virtual/Hybrid; Keynote/Breakout/Panel; Size: Big/Medium/Small; How Interactive/Participatory; Solo/Team)
• Location – whether because you want to travel somewhere specific or avoid somewhere you don’t like, or you want to stay local! (Erin Pohan even created her own conference in Seattle because she didn’t want to travel – talk about “building your own stage”.)

In my opinion, it’s important to be intentional about what you’re choosing and why (something I learned from Cindy Schroeder in Bookkeeping Buds). There’s an endless number of incredible events out there… to get the most out of your conference budget, it helps to have a list of long-term, short-term, and conference goals. (I have a business to run… time away from my team and clients can be rejuvenating and insightful, but it’s also non-billable.) With goals in mind, it’s much easier to choose which ones to attend, as well as to plan your time wisely while you’re there, and of course, to evaluate your takeaways and fold them into the fabric of your practice after you get back.

Goal-Setting

What are your goals for your firm, team members, your own career development, and your role in the accounting space? Are you marketing for new clients or collaboration with colleagues? Do you need technical guidance most? Firm practice management? Inspiration? These are all valid, and all highly personal.

Once you know what you’re looking for overall, then you have to figure out how to choose which conference in each target area. Spend some time on LinkedIn, check in with your favorite webinar speakers, and of course, consult with your professional organizations – for me that’s my own ‘Ask a CPA’ community, as well as Bookkeeping Buds, Realize, ‘Appy Camp, Theatre of Public Speaking, NATP, and AICPA – to see which members are attending what.

Now, I hear you introverts out there, “what do you mean, check in with my favorite webinar speakers?” I mean, ask them whether they’re speaking at any in-person conferences this year. Shoot them an email or DM on the socials. Everyone likes having fans, and we’re all trying to distinguish ourselves from the crowd — it’s a real compliment to hear from someone who you’ve reached with your messaging. Don’t be shy about asking.

Planning your Time Wisely

Each year I write a big article for MSN on planning your time at Scaling New Heights and Intuit Connect, so follow me there if you’d like to get notified when those come out. Because once you’ve chosen the conference or retreats, I recommend you build your schedule intentionally.

For a big tech conference like Scaling New Heights — with someone like Heather Day Satterley hand-selecting the best speakers in our industry — it easily takes me 2.5 hours to go through all the session descriptions and speaker lists to pick my favorites. And then some are already booked up, and some are held at the same time… if the app allows you to “favorite” more than one, then you’ll have a backup if the one you attend turns out not to be the right fit for you. I also like to take a quick look at the PDF of the slides if they’re in the app to see if the level of the class is a match.

Making a list of vendors you’d like to meet in the Exhibit Hall is another planning recommendation.

I’m a huge proponent of planning ahead, yet not being married to your choices. That way you never waste time in the moment trying to decide what to do, but you also don’t blind yourself to going with the flow. Sometimes you’ll decide to engage in one-on-one or small group discussion, or catch up on Slack or app chat; that’s great, just go with the flow without getting lost.

And now… (drumroll please), the moment we’ve all been waiting for, in chronological order:

My Top 10 USA Accounting Conferences of 2025

1. Scaling New Heights – Jun 22-25, Orlando, FL – https://www.woodard.com/scaling-new-heights-2025
2. #TaxTwitter Retreat, Denver, CO – Jul 18-19 – https://www.taxretreat.org/
3. NATP Taxposium – Jul 21-23, Las Vegas, NV – https://www.taxposium.com/
4. Bridging the Gap, Denver, CO – Jul 22-24 – https://www.btgconference.com/
5. Women Who Count (AFWA), Mesa, AZ – Oct 21-25 – https://www.afwa.org/women-who-count/
6. Intuit Connect – Oct 27-29, Las Vegas, NV – https://www.intuit.com/intuitconnect/
7. Reframe, Coral Gables, FL – Nov 2-5 – https://www.reframeaccounting.com/
8. Best Virtual Conference – Financial Cents’ WorkFlowCon – Nov 11-12, Virtual – https://financial-cents.com/resources/articles/accounting-conferences-2025/#8-workflowcon-2025
9. AICPA Digital CPA – Dec 7-10, Washington, DC – https://www.cpa.com/digital-cpa
10. CPA Practice Advisor “Ensuring Success” – Dec 10-11, Dallas, TX/Virtual – https://ensuringsuccess.com/

For a detailed explanation of why I chose each one of these, check out my interview with Insightful Accountant — if you’d like to leap right on over to the drumroll and the list, it starts about half-way through for those who want to skip to the good stuff (I promise I won’t be offended).

Honorable Mentions:

• Also check out the Financial Cents Top 25 list: https://financial-cents.com/resources/articles/accounting-conferences-2025/
• Insightful Accountant Future Forward: now doing one week-a-month, one session-a-day – https://insightfulaccountant.com/topics/future-forward/
• On a budget tax conferences: IRS Tax Forums
  Jul 1 – 3 (Chicago IL), Aug 5-7 (New Orleans, LA), Aug 26-28 (Orlando, FL), Sep 9-11(Baltimore, MD) & Sep 16 – 18 (San Diego, CA), 2025 – https://www.irstaxforum.com/index
• PNW-local: Women in Accounting & Finance – https://cec4-erin.systeme.io/0cc9badd
• GrowCon – Universal Accounting – https://universalaccountingschool.com/growcon-2025-webpage/
• Latino Tax Fest – https://latinotaxfest.com/
• Public Speaking: Theatre of Public Speaking Cohort – https://publicspeaking.mistymegia.com/bundles/tops-spring25?ref=857055
• Looking to grow your firm? Jason Blumer: Thriveal Deeper Weekend – https://thriveal.com/deeper-weekend/
• AICPA Women’s Global Leadership Summit – https://www.aicpa-cima.com/cpe-learning/conference/aicpa-cima-womens-global-leadership-summit

Accounting Cornerstone Foundation

If you’ve read this article or watched the interview with Gary on Insightful Accountant, and you’re ready to attend your first accounting conference, then I’ve got one more step for you to consider. Check out the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation at https://accountingcornerstone.org/.

Born from a ‘what if’ sticky note at Appy Camp, the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation has become a reality with only one goal in mind: to share the opportunity to attend continuing education conferences and support the growth of accounting and bookkeeping professionals around the globe.  They are a nonprofit that sends accounting and bookkeeping professionals to local in-person continuing education conferences, providing conference tickets, airfare, and hotel accommodation.

If you’re already keen on accounting conferences and you know how life-changing and career-enhancing they can be, then please consider becoming an ACF donor. All of us were once in the situation where we knew attending a conference could make a big difference in our lives, but the question of the chicken or the egg loomed… how am I supposed to come up with the money to attend, when I have to earn a living and I’m just getting by? And then you tell yourself… but if I attend, maybe that will give me the tools I need to not just “get by” but to really thrive? But then… Catch 22 again… where is that money going to come from? The more donations ACF gets, the more applicants they can accept and the more first-timers they can send to conferences, pure and simple. If everyone in accounting-conference-land out there could donate even a small amount, we’d be able to pay it forward for generations.

Final Thoughts: Conferences Can Change Everything

Whether you’re a seasoned firm owner or a solo practitioner still finding your footing, the right accounting conference can make a world of difference. I’ve built lifelong friendships, made smarter tech decisions, improved my team’s systems, found new passions, and met mentors and peers who make this whole journey more joyful and sustainable. Every year, these events help me hit the reset button on my vision and remind me why I do what I do (as well as help me “do it better”).

Please don’t just read this list and move on. Take a moment. Revisit your goals, peek at your calendar, and choose at least one conference to attend this year. Bonus points if you apply for a scholarship from the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation, or help someone else attend by donating. Trust me — it’s worth it.

Here’s to growing your practice, expanding your network, and falling (maybe all over again) in love with this amazing, weird, ever-evolving industry of ours.

See you in the hallways. 💼✈️🎉

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